Inside New York’s Most Famous Address: The Plaza Closes for a Massive 4-Year Overhaul After Sheltering The Beatles, Literary Titans, and Decades of High Society

The Plaza Hotel, the grand architectural centerpiece anchored at Fifth Avenue and Central Park South, is shutting its doors for four years to undergo a massive, multi-million-dollar restoration of its 18-story landmark facade. Operators Fairmont Hotels & Resorts confirmed the extended closure of the 119-year-old landmark, putting its world-famous hotel suites and legendary wedding ballroom temporarily out of commission.

Since opening its doors on October 1, 1907, the property has served as a gilded sanctuary, high-society playground, and permanent home for cultural icons, rock stars, architects, and former presidents. The French Renaissance-style building holds 282 hotel rooms alongside 181 private condominium residences, with luxury penthouses selling for as high as $65.8 million.

View looking west on 59th Street of the east and north facades of The Plaza Hotel.

The building was brought to life by master architect Henry Janeway Hardenbergh, who also designed the iconic Dakota on Central Park West. From its inception, the hotel was engineered to capture the pinnacle of New York City luxury, welcoming railroad royalty, eccentric creatives, and global leaders through its revolving doors.

A front desk supervisor instructs a porter inside The Plaza Hotel circa 1941.

The interior foyer of The Plaza Hotel pictured in 2005 prior to condominium conversion.

High-Profile Residents and Gilded Age Beginnings

The very first registered guest to cross the threshold in 1907 was Alfred Gwynne Vanderbilt, son of Cornelius Vanderbilt II. Vanderbilt arrived by horse-drawn carriage on opening morning to occupy a private five-room suite, setting an instant precedent for Manhattan high society.

During the Roaring Twenties, author F. Scott Fitzgerald and his wife Zelda Fitzgerald treated the property as their personal party pad following the runaway commercial success of This Side of Paradise. Fitzgerald permanently immortalized the hotel in his 1925 masterpiece The Great Gatsby, returning to write about its high-octane energy throughout his life.

“It bore him up, flattered him and gave him more money than he had dreamed of, simply for telling people that he felt as they did, that something had to be done with all the nervous energy stored up and unexpended in the War.”

Fitzgerald later reflected in his essay Echoes of the Jazz Age that the party could not last forever, writing that “the most expensive orgy in history was over.” Still, the building remained a constant creative muse for the nation’s literary elite.

F. Scott Fitzgerald and Zelda Fitzgerald during the Jazz Age.

A pivotal Plaza Hotel suite scene from the 1974 adaptation of The Great Gatsby.

Literary Legends and Architectural Genius

Few individuals reshaped public perception of the property more than Kay Thompson, who published Eloise in 1955. An accomplished cabaret singer, composer, and actress, Thompson resided at the hotel and performed in its rooms throughout the 1950s, creating the mischievous six-year-old character based on her own childhood alter ego.

Author and entertainer Kay Thompson posing at The Plaza Hotel in 1969.

Hilary Knight, Jordana Beatty, and Shane Krige at The Plaza portrait unveiling in 2008.

Frank Lloyd Wright’s Midtown Sanctuary

Celebrated architect Frank Lloyd Wright lived inside Suite 223 (later renumbered as Suite 409) between 1954 and 1959 while supervising construction on the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum. Though famous for condemning New York City’s crowded vertical grid, he praised the property for retaining a rare sense of structural dignity and humanness.

Wright overhauled the 4,000-square-foot corner suite with custom furnishings, peach velvet textiles, and fine gold-leaf detailing. Decades later, that same historic corner apartment hit the luxury real estate market with an asking price of $18.9 million.

Artifacts from Frank Lloyd Wright’s Plaza suite displayed during an auction preview.

In 1948, silver screen icon Marlene Dietrich took up residence in the Lady Mendl suite for over a year before shooting Alfred Hitchcock’s Stage Fright. Dietrich developed a reputation among housekeeping staff for her unrelenting cleanliness standards, demanding total perfection when it came to her room linens.

Marlene Dietrich, Jane Wyman, and Alfred Hitchcock on the set of Stage Fright in 1950.

Beatlemania and the Party of the Century

In February 1964, British rock invasion leaders The Beatles arrived in the United States ahead of their groundbreaking television debut on The Ed Sullivan Show. The Fab Four booked out the 10-room Presidential Suites on the 12th floor, turning the hotel into a fortified bunker against thousands of screaming fans surrounding the block.

The Beatles gathered in their 12th-floor Plaza suite in February 1964.

The band held an electric press conference in the hotel’s Baroque Room, accepting gold records for “I Want To Hold Your Hand” and their album Meet The Beatles.

“It was like the Royal tour, this motorcade thing. But there was people lining the route, then we got to the hotel and it was madness! And they were all outside and there’s barriers and horses and cops all over the place… with the four of us sitting in the car, giggling.”

Two years later, author Truman Capote hosted his legendary masquerade-themed Black and White Ball in the Grand Ballroom on November 28, 1966. Dubbed the party of the century, the guest list gathered Frank Sinatra, Mia Farrow, Lauren Bacall, Sammy Davis Jr., Norman Mailer, Andy Warhol, and Gloria Vanderbilt into one room.

Ownership Drama and Mega-Dollar Real Estate

The hotel’s ownership records read like a chronicle of Wall Street speculation and luxury retail expansion.

• 1907: First opened by original developer teams and architect Henry Janeway Hardenbergh.
• 1988: Purchased by Donald Trump for roughly $407 million.
• 1992: Featured in Trump’s screen cameo in Home Alone 2: Lost in New York during corporate bankruptcy proceedings.
• 1995: Offloaded by Trump at a financial loss for $325 million.
• 2008: Converted to include 181 private residential condos following a hundred-million-dollar renovation.
• 2023: Achieved a building record private residence sale of $65.8 million.

Fashion designer Tommy Hilfiger and wife Dee Ocleppo bought combined units in 2008 for $25 million, crafting a duplex penthouse with an Eloise-themed room hand-painted by Hilary Knight. Hilfiger initially listed the home for $80 million before selling it in late 2019 for under $32 million.

Fact Check: Hotel Rooms vs. Private Condos

A widespread misconception is that The Plaza operates purely as a standard luxury hotel. In truth, the property operates under a dual-purpose hybrid model consisting of 282 hotel keys alongside 181 ultra-luxury private condominiums.

The hotel also drew serious scrutiny in a staff report released by House Judiciary Committee Democrats examining alleged ties to Jeffrey Epstein’s sex trafficking ring, citing claims by former Miss Switzerland Beatrice Keul alleging an assault by Trump at the hotel in November 1993.

With an extensive four-year facade restoration underway, Manhattan’s most historic guest list is temporarily on hold while engineers protect the building’s stonework for the next century of guests.

💬 Few addresses across the United States hold as many cultural, artistic, and political secrets behind their walls as The Plaza.

✨ From Truman Capote’s midnight masquerade to Beatlemania sweeping across Central Park South, the building’s legend remains unmatched.

📱 Have you ever visited or stayed at The Plaza? Share your favorite memories of this historic landmark in the comments below!